Guest editorial
by Ken Petterson
Staples, MN
A few summers ago, I was out spraying potatoes with my Turbo Thrush; it was 8:00 am and the wind was already starting to blow.
Every morning throughout the summer, the first thing I do when I wake up at 4:30 am is call Flight Service and check on the weather. This morning forecast was for the wind to be blowing 15-25 mph by 9 am. I decided to at least try to get a few loads done before the wind started blowing.
The spraying I had to do that day was from a satellite airport at Clarissa, MN, about 20 miles south of my home airport of Staples, MN. After my first take-off, while I was climbing out, I could feel the wind pushing on the side of the airplane, as I had to crab into the wind a considerable amount to hold my course. It was also quite turbulent. I thought to myself, “Flight Service is going to be right today.”
By 8 am I could hardly hold onto the airplane as I pulled up over the trees bordering the potato field, because of the gusty wind aloft. Yet at the surface it was still workable for the moment. You can always feel the wind at altitude first, and then it slowly works its way down to the surface.
As I was spraying, what I thought was going to be my last load for the day, my mind began to wander to the Bible study that I had been doing on the subject of faith. As part of this study, I was reading about the miracles of Jesus.
I thought about the Roman officer in Matthew 8:5-13, who came to Jesus pleading for help for his sick servant back home. Jesus said that he would go to his house to heal him. Bu the centurion replied that he was not worthy for Jesus to come into his house, but if Jesus would just say the words from here, his servant would be healed. Jesus exclaimed that he had not seen faith like this in all of Israel, and because of the Roman officer’s faith, it would be done for him. And at the very hour, his servant was healed.
Then I thought about the two blind men in Matthew 9:27-30, who asked Jesus to restore their sight. Jesus asked them if they believed that he could do this for them. They replied, “Yes Lord”. Jesus touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith, this will be done for you”, and they could see.
Then I thought of the woman in Mark 5:24-34, who had been bleeding for twelve years. She came to Jesus and thought, “If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed.” She worked her way through the crowd, touched Jesus’ robe and was healed. Jesus felt power leave him and he turned to see who had touched him. After finding the woman, Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
I thought how each of these people believed something different, yet all were healed according to their faith. Faith was the key ingredient.
Then I thought of Jesus walking on the water in Matthew 14, and how Peter could walk on the water, as long as he believed. But when he looked around and noticed the wind and the crashing waves, he began to doubt and also began to sink. Jesus helped him back into the boat and the wind died down.
We are like that too. When the waves of life come crashing around us we begin to doubt and we too begin to sink.
Then I thought about how Jesus could rebuke the wind and it would obey Him, as it states in Luke 8:24. I thought, “Wow, God could do this for me, too!”
Without hesitation, I prayed. “Dear heavenly Father, I know that you created the heavens and the earth and everything in them. I know that you are in control of everything, even the wind. If it be your will, would you please keep the wind down long enough for me to complete the work that you have called me to do.”
Now I confess that I was hoping that God would just keep the wind tolerable, but God did something even better. When I said that prayer, the wind went to completely calm and the air became as smooth as glass. I got goose bumps all over my body and the hair on the back of my neck was standing straight out. I broke into songs of praise and worship.
There was not a frontal passage, no change in the wind direction and no reason for this to be happening, except that is was the work of God’s hand and I knew it. I even put out some smoke, to see if I was dreaming. The smoke did not move.
This went on for two hours. As I sprayed out my last load, I thanked God for revealing himself to me in such an awesome way. When I finished the last pass, I said one more time, “Thank you God, you can let her blow.”
As I climbed to get altitude for the ride home, my wings began to rock. I looked down and the trees on the line-fence below me were waving like crazy. The bean field that I was flying over was rolling like a roaring sea. I was in awe!
God released the wind he had been holding back and it hit me like water from a broken dam.
When I got back home, my wife asked, “How could you keep spraying in this wind?”
I smiled and said. “It wasn’t windy where I was.” Then I told her what happened.
This experience really showed me the power of prayer, when combined with faith.
Jesus says, in Mark 11: 22-24, “Have faith in God. It will you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have already received it and it will be yours.”